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In full transparency, Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez was second on my Heisman Trophy ballot.
My Heisman ballot read: 1. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza; 2. Rodriguez; 3. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
It is an unwritten bylaw for all Heisman Trophy voters that if a quarterback leads the Indiana Hoosiers to a No. 1 ranking, an undefeated regular season and a Big Ten conference title, he automatically wins the most prestigious award in college football; also he is immediately eligible for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Hockey Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame, Baseball Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
It’s set up that way because what are the chances that Indiana achieves both? What Indiana did last season and now here in 2025 should also result in the Walter Camp Coach of the Year award changed to the Curt Cignetti Coach of the Year award.
Rodriguez finished fifth in the voting, and did not make it to New York City for the award ceremony. That’s not just wrong, it’s awful.
The best defense in the nation is in Lubbock, and its best player is a senior from Wichita Falls who is married, and has the top mustache in America.
The Heisman case of Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez
The only reason Rodriguez did not receive my first-place vote for the Heisman is the absurd, logic-defying, end-of-days season that Mendoza and the Hoosiers are enjoying; under any other circumstance, Rodriguez should have become only the second defense-only player to win the award, joining Michigan’s Charles Woodson, who won it in 1997.
Colorado’s Travis Hunter, who won the award last season, played wide receiver and defensive back.
Texas Tech won the Big 12, is No. 4 in the nation and will play in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals against the winner of James Madison and Oregon on Jan. 1 in the Orange Bowl. The Red Raiders are here because of a defense that allows 10 points per game.
Other than one game, a four-point loss at Arizona State, the Red Raiders blew out all of their opponents.
Rodriguez, who started his college career at Virginia, where he played quarterback, wide receiver, tight end and running back, has been named a first-team All-American, and won the Bednarik Award, given annually to the nation’s top defensive player.
Rodriguez also won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (nation’s top defensive player), the Lombardi Award (nation’s top lineman or linebacker) and the Pony Express Award (nation’s top duo, with fellow Tech linebacker David Bailey).
All of that wasn’t enough to receive an invitation to the Heisman Trophy party. Maybe he needed to win an Academy Award.
How Jacob Rodriguez was denied a spot in New York City
That Rodriguez did not even finish in the top four in voting is a sports crime, a reflection not of his production, ability and talent but more of the continued bias towards a position, and the monopoly that is TheBIGSEC10. And Notre Dame.
The Heisman’s “Final Four” play in the Big Ten, SEC or at Notre Dame.
The only reason Rodriguez did not receive enough votes to be a finalist is that too many of us who are given the fun responsibility as a voter don’t put enough value in what a defensive player does for his team. Because we can’t easily see it.
Quarterback will forever be the most important player on a team, and there is no way to take away the weight of that position on a ballot. There is no way to make it “fair” for the other players on the field.
A defensive player seldom accumulates enough numbers to make a voter stop and consider his contribution to a team’s great season. We should, and we don’t.
Texas Tech is where it is today mostly because of its defense, and the best player on its defense is Jacob Rodriguez.
In a normal year, the man fits the criteria to win the Heisman Trophy.
This is not a normal year, but he deserved to be in New York City at the ceremony.
This story was originally published December 13, 2025 at 6:50 PM.
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Mac Engel
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